8 Nov 2017
Conservationists are making great
progress in removing vulture-killing drug diclofenac from Nepal, with vulture
populations stabilising as a result. Now, in this safer environment, it’s
almost time for six captive-reared White-rumped Vultures to venture out into
the wild.
South Asian vultures have
famously suffered devastating population declines in recent decades. For
example, 99.9% of White-rumped Vultures Gyps bengalensis were wiped out between 1992 and 2007.
This was due to the use of diclofenac: an anti-inflammatory drug given to
reduce pain in livestock, but deadly to vultures that subsequently feed on
their carcasses. A ban on veterinary diclofenac in India, Nepal and Pakistan in
2006 and Bangladesh in 2010 has allowed vulture populations to stabilise and
possibly start to recover in some areas.
However, five of South Asia’s
nine vulture species remain Endangered or Critically Endangered; the misuse of
human diclofenac to treat livestock, as well as the use of other vulture-toxic
veterinary drugs, continues to threaten some South Asian vulture populations
with extinction. BirdLife Partners are changing that, through a combination of
advocacy, legislation and education.
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